Brazil power firms ordered to redo dam impact in flood areas

BRASILIA, March 11 (Reuters) - A court has ordered the
operators of two new hydroelectric dams in western Brazil to
redo their environmental impact studies on the suspicion they
have caused extensive flooding in the area.

The federal court injunction issued on Monday in the state
of Rondonia also ordered them to provide food, temporary housing
and transport for more than 11,000 people forced to leave their
homes by the rising waters of the Madeira River, the Amazon's
largest tributary.

The injunction was sought by federal and state prosecutors
who last week sought the suspension of the dams' licenses until
their impact on the environment can be assessed again.

The two dams are part of an array of hydro projects that
Brazil plans to build in the Amazon to cover power shortages and
meet growing demand for electricity. Environmentalists say the
dams will cause flooding and devastate indigenous communities.

The Madeira reached its highest level on record this week,
cutting off highways and flooding dozens of villages upriver
from the state capital of Porto Velho.

The court said there was not enough evidence at present to
link the flooding to the Santo Antonio and Jirau dams and gave
the companies 90 days to show they are doing new environmental
impact studies.

French multinational utility GDF Suez SA is a
shareholder in Energia Sustentável do Brasil, which operates the
3,750-megawatt Jirau dam now in its final phase of construction.

Down river, the Santo Antonio dam, which began generating
electricity in 2012, is owned by Furnas Centrais Elétricas SA, a
unit of state-controlled Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras SA
- known as Eletrobras - and Cia Energética de Minas
Gerais SA, or Cemig.

Last week, ONS, as the country's national grid operator is
known, ordered the lowering of the water level of the Santo
Antonio reservoir to avoid impacting construction work at Jirau,
and the dam's turbines were shut down.

The companies said the floods were caused by heavy rainfall
in neighboring Bolivia and not by their run-of-the-river dams,
which need smaller reservoirs than other hydroelectric projects.

Bolivia has asked Brazil to explain whether the dams are
causing the flooding in its territory.
(Reporting by Anna Flávia Rochas and Anthony Boadle; Editing by
Lisa Shumaker)